• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.49 no.5
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• pp.569-595
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• 2014

In this paper, a novel semi-energy finite strip method (FSM) is developed based on the concept of first order shear deformation theory (FSDT) in order to attempt the post-buckling solution for thin and relatively thick functionally graded (FG) plates under uniform end-shortening. In order to study the effects of through-the-thickness shear stresses on the post-buckling behavior of FG plates, two previously developed finite strip methods, i.e., semi-energy FSM based on the concept of classical laminated plate theory (CLPT) and a CLPT full-energy FSM, are also implemented. Moreover, the effects of aspect ratio on initial post-buckling stiffness of FG rectangular plates are studied. It has been shown that the variation of the ratio of initial post-buckling stiffness to pre-buckling stiffness ($S^*/S$) with respect to aspects ratios is quite independent of volume fractions of constituents in thin FG plates. It has also been seen that the universal curve representing the variation of ($S^*/S$) with aspect ratio of a FG plate demonstrate a saw shape curve. Moreover, it is revealed that for the thin FG plates in contrast to relatively thick plates, the variations of non-dimensional load versus end-shortening is independent of ceramic-metal volume fraction index. This means that the post-buckling behavior of thin FG plates and the thin pure isotropic plates is similar. The results are discussed in detail and compared with those obtained from finite element method (FEM) of analysis. The study of the results may have a great influence in design of FG plates encountering post-buckling behavior.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.65-80
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• 2020

This paper presents a theoretical investigation on the response of the thermo-mechanical bending of FG plate on variable elastic foundation. A quasi-3D higher shear deformation theory is used that contains undetermined integral forms and involves only four unknowns to derive. The FG plates are supposed simply supported with temperature-dependent material properties and subjected to nonlinear temperature rise. Various homogenization models are used to estimate the effective material properties such as temperature-dependent thermoelastic properties. Equations of motion are derived from the principle of virtual displacements and Navier's solution is used to solve the problem of simply supported plates. Numerical results for deflections and stresses of FG plate with temperature-dependent material properties are investigated. It can be concluded that the proposed theory is accurate and simple in solving the thermoelastic bending behavior of FG thick plates.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.161-178
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• 2019

In this research, a simple quasi 3D hyperbolic shear deformation model is employed for bending and dynamic behavior of functionally graded (FG) plates resting on visco-Pasternak foundations. The important feature of this theory is that, it includes the thickness stretching effect with considering only 4 unknowns, which less than what is used in the First Order Shear Deformation (FSDT) theory. The visco­Pasternak's foundation is taken into account by adding the influence of damping to the usual foundation model which characterized by the linear Winkler's modulus and Pasternak's foundation modulus. The equations of motion for thick FG plates are obtained in the Hamilton principle. Analytical solutions for the bending and dynamic analysis are determined for simply supported plates resting on visco-Pasternak foundations. Some numerical results are presented to indicate the effects of material index, elastic foundation type, and damping coefficient of the foundation, on the bending and dynamic behavior of rectangular FG plates.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.713-728
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• 2023

This paper aims to investigate the free vibration analysis of FG plates, taking into account the effects of even and uneven porosity. The study employs the Hellinger-Reisner functional and obtains the element's bending stress and membrane stress fields from the analytical solution of the governing equations of the thick plate and plane problem, respectively. The displacement field serves as the second independent field. While few articles on free vibration analysis of circular plates exist, this paper investigates the free vibration of both rectangular and circular plates. After validating the proposed element, the paper investigates the effects of porosity distributions on the natural frequency of the FG porous plate. The study calculates the natural frequency of thin and thick bending plates with different aspect ratios and support conditions for various porosity and volume fraction index values. The study uses three types of porosity distributions, X, V, and O, for the uneven porosity distribution case. For O and V porosity distribution modes, porosity has a minor effect on the natural frequency for both circular and rectangular plates. However, in the case of even porosity distribution or X porosity distribution, the effect of porosity on the natural frequency of circular and rectangular plates increases with an increase in the volume fraction index.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.873-886
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• 2021

In this paper, an analytical solution for thermodynamic response of functionally graded (FG) sandwich plates resting on variable elastic foundation is performed by using a quasi 3D shear deformation plate theory. The displacement field used in the present study contains undetermined integral terms and involves only four unknown functions with including stretching effect. The FG sandwich plate is considered to be subject to a time harmonic sinusoidal temperature field across its thickness with any combined boundary conditions. Equations of motion are derived from Hamilton's principle. The numerical results are compared with the existing results of quasi-3D shear deformation theories and an excellent agreement is observed. Several numerical examples for fundamental frequency, deflection, stress and variable elastic foundation parameter's analysis of FG sandwich plates are presented and discussed considering different material gradients, layer thickness ratios, thickness-to-length ratios and boundary conditions. The results of the present study reveal that the nature of the elastic foundation, the boundary conditions and the thermodynamic loading affect the response of the FG plate especially in the case of a thick plate.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.70 no.5
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• pp.571-589
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• 2019

This paper aims to develop a quasi-3D shear deformation theory for the study of bending, buckling and free vibration responses of functionally graded (FG) sandwich thick plates. For that, in the present theory, both the components of normal deformation and shear strain are included. The displacement field of the proposed model contains undetermined integral terms and involves only four unknown functions with including stretching effect. Using Navier's technique the solution of the problem is derived for simply supported sandwich plate. Numerical results have been reported, and compared with those available in the open literature were excellent agreement was observed. Finally, a detailed parametric study is presented to demonstrate the effect of the different parameters on the flexural responses, free vibration and buckling of a simply supported sandwich plates.

• Coupled systems mechanics
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.61-77
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• 2021

The porosity of functionally graded materials (FGM) can affect the static and dynamic behavior of plates, which is important to take this aspect into account when analyzing such structures. The present work aims to study the effect of the distribution shape of porosity on the free vibration response of simply supported FG plate reposed on the Winkler-Pasternak foundation. A refined theory of shear deformation is expanded to study the influence of the distribution shape of porosity on the free vibration behavior of FG plates. The findings showed that the distribution shape of porosity significantly influences the free vibration behavior of thick rectangular FG plates for small values of Winkler-Pasternak elastic foundation parameters.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.773-796
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• 2014

This paper deals with free vibration analysis of continuous grading fiber reinforced (CGFR) and bi-directional FG annular sector plates on two-parameter elastic foundations under various boundary conditions, based on the three-dimensional theory of elasticity. The plates with simply supported radial edges and arbitrary boundary conditions on their circular edges are considered. A semi-analytical approach composed of differential quadrature method (DQM) and series solution is adopted to solve the equations of motion. Some new results for the natural frequencies of the plate are prepared, which include the effects of elastic coefficients of foundation, boundary conditions, material and geometrical parameters. Results indicate that the non-dimensional natural frequency parameter of a functionally graded fiber volume fraction is larger than that of a discrete laminated and close to that of a 2-layer. It results that the CGFR plate attains natural frequency higher than those of traditional discretely laminated composite ones and this can be a benefit when higher stiffness of the plate is the goal and that is due to the reduction in spatial mismatch of material properties. Moreover, it is shown that a graded ceramic volume fraction in two directions has a higher capability to reduce the natural frequency than conventional one-dimensional functionally graded material. The multidirectional graded material can likely be designed according to the actual requirement and it is a potential alternative to the unidirectional functionally graded material. The new results can be used as benchmark solutions for future researches.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.649-661
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• 2017

This paper is motivated by the lack of studies in the technical literature concerning to the influence of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) waviness and aspect ratio on the vibrational behavior of functionally graded nanocomposite annular sector plates resting on two-parameter elastic foundations. The carbon nanotube-reinforced (CNTR) plate has smooth variation of CNT fraction based on the power-law distribution in the thickness direction, and the material properties are also estimated by the extended rule of mixture. In this study, the classical theory concerning the mechanical efficiency of a matrix embedding finite length fibers has been modified by introducing the tube-to-tube random contact, which explicitly accounts for the progressive reduction of the tubes' effective aspect ratio as the filler content increases. Parametric studies are carried out to highlight the influence of CNTs volume fraction, waviness and aspect ratio, boundary conditions and elastic foundation on vibrational behavior of FG-CNT thick sectorial plates. The study is carried out based on three-dimensional theory of elasticity and in contrary to two-dimensional theories, such as classical, the first- and the higher-order shear deformation plate theories, this approach does not neglect transverse normal deformations. The annular sector plate is assumed to be simply supported in the radial edges while any arbitrary boundary conditions are applied to the other two circular edges including simply supported, clamped and free. For an overall comprehension on 3-D vibration of annular sector plates, some mode shape contour plots are reported in this research work.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.711-726
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• 2017

In the present work, by considering the agglomeration effect of single-walled carbon nanotubes, free vibration characteristics of functionally graded (FG) nanocomposite sandwich plates resting on Pasternak foundation are presented. The volume fractions of randomly oriented agglomerated single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) are assumed to be graded in the thickness direction. To determine the effect of CNT agglomeration on the elastic properties of CNT-reinforced composites, a two-parameter micromechanical model of agglomeration is employed. In this research work, an equivalent continuum model based on the Eshelby-Mori-Tanaka approach is employed to estimate the effective constitutive law of the elastic isotropic medium (matrix) with oriented straight CNTs. The 2-D generalized differential quadrature method (GDQM) as an efficient and accurate numerical tool is used to discretize the equations of motion and to implement the various boundary conditions. The proposed rectangular plates have two opposite edges simply supported, while all possible combinations of free, simply supported and clamped boundary conditions are applied to the other two edges. The benefit of using the considered power-law distribution is to illustrate and present useful results arising from symmetric and asymmetric profiles. The effects of two-parameter elastic foundation modulus, geometrical and material parameters together with the boundary conditions on the frequency parameters of the laminated FG nanocomposite plates are investigated. It is shown that the natural frequencies of structure are seriously affected by the influence of CNTs agglomeration. This study serves as a benchmark for assessing the validity of numerical methods or two-dimensional theories used to analysis of laminated plates.